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Mural to freshen up city’s history

Toledo-area artist to bring a  colorful look to plaza wall at corner of Main Street and National Road.

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By Doug Page, Staff Writer 8:58 AM Thursday, April 30, 2009

ENGLEWOOD — The city’s mural of 1800s Harrisburg is gone, soon to be replaced with a more colorful version.

“The mural depicted Englewood back when it was Harrisburg,” City Manager Eric Smith said. “It was done in black and white to give the feel of a tintype.”

Since it first went up in the early 1980s, the mural has been redone twice to refresh the images. Water damage to the wall during the 2007-08 winter got city leaders thinking about replacing the mural.

Last fall, the City Council approved a $20,000 contract with Toledo-area artist Keith Hasenbalg to bring a fresh, colorful look to the downtown plaza wall at the corner of Main Street and National Road.

“Basically, I’ll be expanding on what they had,” Hasenbalg said. “They are set on showing the city when National Road was in its heyday.”

For Hasenbalg — an architectural illustrator by day — it’s not his first large mural. He branched out into public murals in 2001 with a 23-foot by 75-foot mural in Port Clinton. The next year, he completed a 30-by-80 mural in Kenton.

An Englewood resident saw one of his murals and mentioned his work to city officials, which led to the project.

The 14-by-70 wall was covered with a special paint last week. The paint must cure for 30 days before Hasenbalg starts applying his scene.

“It’s pretty exciting,” he said. “What I like is being out in public painting. It’s like an actor on a stage — instant gratification while you work.”

He expects to start working weekends in mid-May, weather permitting. If the weather is kind, he hopes to be done by the end of July.

Hasenbalg doesn’t mind working on the weekends. In his day job, his art is never bigger than 24 inches. Having several hundred square feet to work with is a release from his day-to-day requirements.

“I’ve got a studio in downtown Toledo where I can work on bigger projects,” he said.

In addition to a new mural, the plaza will have a historical plaque explaining the history of the National Road, one of the first major roads built by the federal government. Started in 1811, the road eventually reached from Maryland to Vandalia, Ill., when money ran out before the road reached St. Louis.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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